I'm unsure when I'll be able to do my next book sale at the Caspar Community Center. Probably not in November of this year as I has planned, hopefully sometime in 2021.

I have been finding home for lots of books in the Little Free Libraries that have sprung up on the coast. I am actively thinning out my collection of books and have donated nearly 1500 to the local LFL's. With bookstores and public libraries mostly closed the LFL's have been seeing a lot of action. I have created a list, along with pictures and directions to the LFL's that I have located on one of my blogs and hope that you will check it out and also visit some of the little free libraries to take and leave books. One just recently opened up down in Elk and I just got an email from someone that will soon open another here in Fort Bragg. Happy booking. Below is a link to my other blog.

https://floweringpixels.blogspot.com/

January Book Sale in Caspar

I just created this new flyer for the sale that we will be doing at the Caspar Community Center when they have the monthly fund
raising breakfast on January 26th. My friend Annie Lee who brings textiles and jewelry back from her trips to Guatemala will be sharing the north room of the center with me. Some of the profits from her sales will help support artisans and scholarships for students down there. Carlie and I will be showing our latest mixed metal jewels and I, in the role of the Caspar Bookster will put out 25 to 30 boxes of a great variety of gently used books. I'm really culling out my large collection of books, gave 74 boxes to the Fort Bragg library and local thrift stores this past year and hope to do that with 100 boxes this year. My current rule is that for every book that I acquire I have to get rid of 4. I must confess though that my book obsession is not quite over yet, but I only buy books that I feel are special in some way. And, of course, I'm always looking for ones that have more than ordinary value, just found one at a thrift store that I believe will sell for $160 or so on the internet. The looking for treasure game which I'm sort of addicted to.  I'll have my 77th birthday 2 days after the sale. How did that happen?

Book Sales coming up in November and January

My obsession with books is still running but not as intensely as at certain times in my life. As I approach being 80 years old in a couple of years I am trying to eliminate stuff from my life so others don't have to deal with it when I am no longer here. My current rule relative to books is that for every book I acquire, I have to get rid of 4. That 2nd number will probably increase as time goes by. I've donated over 50 boxes of books to the Ft. Bragg library  and local thrift stores this year but the stack I have left is still pretty big. I'm keeping what I consider to be the best and most interesting for the sales I have coming up in November and January at the Caspar Community Center, more details about those later on. And of course I'm keeping ones that are worth $30 and up to list on the internet. The most expensive one I've sold there so far was for $400. Looking for those books is akin to panning for gold, looking for treasure, a hard habit to break.

Another Book Sale in January

I really enjoyed doing the book sale at the Caspar breakfast on the Sunday after Thanksgiving in November, it felt like coming home in a lot of ways. A lot of my book customers and friends welcomed me back and bought lots of books. We also set up our display of mixed metal jewels and did quite well also. Before the sale I had a dollar number in mind of what I would like to make but thought it was reaching a little too much, at the end of the sale we had actually made twice that much money. Wow!

I plan to do it again in January, at the Caspar Community Center breakfast on the 27th, from 9am to 2pm. Hopefully my back, which I sometimes have problems with will let me do it. I will have a totally different selection of quality books this time, I plan to bring around 25 boxes. Annie Lee will also share the space of the north room with me with her fascinating selection of Guatemalan treasures. Hope to see you.

Books, books, books and more books

Well, it looks like doing book sales at the Caspar Community Center monthly breakfast is probably over for me, it's been almost a year since I did one and I don't have a wish to do one now. I did them for 11 years. A lot of people, when I tell them that I'm no longer doing books sales, they say something about all the lifting and toting must be hard and get old. Actually that's one of the things about the sales that I miss the most, that and talking to friends and people about books. The exercise involved in lifting and moving 50 or 60 boxes of books 4 times during the course of a sale & afterwards made me really strong and flexible. I'm 73 and it's still easy for me to move boxes of books up and down stairs and such which I still do at my house as I try to figure out what to do with the 300 or 400 boxes that I have left. Whoa, where did all these books come from?

I'm slowly evaluating them and deciding where they go. A couple of boxes a week generally go to thrift stores and each time I walk towards downtown Ft. Bragg I drop a bag of books, CD's and magazines off at the free box at the Ft. Bragg Library. I'm also getting a number of boxes of books that I'll have for sale at the Caspar Community Center's Flea Market on May 22nd, these books will be all $2 or 3 for $5. Some interesting books I'm trying to find a home for. I also sell a box of books to a used book store every once in a while and still list more valuable books on the internet and plan to increase that effort as time goes on.

I got an iPad for my birthday and one of many uses I found for it is checking the online value of books when I'm looking through books at thrift stores (yes, I still look but don't buy very many, just things for myself and things that have more value.) The iPad has more than paid for itself by doing this. I never check more than 2 or 3 at a time but am surprised at how many books I find that are worth $25 to $150. It's an interesting game, like panning for gold. I probably shouldn't be telling you this. Oh well.

I'm enjoying being semi-retired from my jewelry business also, down to 18 yours a week and doing very few art shows. Business is really good though and we are making some interesting jewels. We'll be selling our mixed metal jewels at the Mendocino Street Fairs on Saturday of Memorial Day Weekend, May 29th and also this summer on two Saturdays in July, the 2nd and the 23rd.

And finally, I've turned a good part of the large upstairs portion of my house into an art studio and am enjoying taking the time each day to draw, paint and do collage work and see that continuing to develop for quite a while. I'll post some pictures of what I'm doing on my flowering pixels blog in the next couple of months.

A book sale hiatus

The Bookster will take a break from book sales for a while. He wants to take more time for other activities in his life. Check back here for an updated schedule.

Books at the February Breakfast

I wasn't sure I was going to sell books at the Feb. breakfast because my old body has been sending me pain signals but I managed to ignore them enough to get a book sale together so I'll be there with books from 9am to 1pm on Sunday, Feb. 22nd. I'll take March off to do other things with my grand kids and then I'll be back with books for the breakfast on April 26th. Breakfast menu below.